The lyrics from I am the Walrus make as much sense as anything else I've heard today about the Beatles and iTunes as 09-09-09 hysteria builds. The latest: claims that Yoko Ono (which would be pronounced Oh-No if this is all true) told Sky News that the availability of the Beatles catalog in iTunes would be announced Wednesday. At the same time, the FT reported that an EMI exec said no announcement was coming tomorrow. Sky was forced to backtrack quickly, pulling the story, according to 9to5Mac. (via Engadget)

For those who have been blessedly out of the loop, Wednesday is the day the Beatles' remastered catalog goes on sale along with Beatles Rock Band edition; Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) also has a press cluster scheduled. That would make it a natural day for a grand announcement that the former litigants have come together, right? Not so fast. Ernesto Schmitt, EMI's global catalog president, told the FT: "Conversations between Apple and EMI are ongoing and we look forward to the day when we can make the music available digitally. But it's not tomorrow." Let's see: phantom Sky story, nicely dealt with by Greg Sandoval, or an EMI exec—whose company needs the dough—on the record? Not a tragic choice.

Personally, I'm at the point where I could care less if the Beatles are ever available online through a store. I own the albums I want (including the UK version of Rubber Soul) and I have them all loaded. But I'd like an announcement ASAP just to get rid of the story.